Apple iMac G4 (15-inch, Early 2003) vs Apple iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020)

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iMac G4 (15-inch, Early 2003) compared with iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020)

	AppleiMac G4 (15-inch, Early 2003)	AppleiMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020)
Overview
Released
Released	February 2003	August 2020
Performance
Processor
Processor	Motorola PowerPC G4 800 MHz (iMac Flat Panel)	Intel Core i5-10500, Intel Core i5-10600, Intel Core i9-10910 or Intel Core i7-10700K
CPU cores
CPU cores	1	6, 8 or 10
CPU threads
CPU threads	–	12, 16 or 20
Graphics
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce2 MX (32 MB)	Radeon Pro 5300 (4 GB GDDR6), Radeon Pro 5500 XT (8 GB GDDR6), Radeon Pro 5700 (8 GB GDDR6) or Radeon Pro 5700 XT (16 GB GDDR6)
Memory
Memory	256 MB, 512 MB or 1 GB	8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB or 128 GB (better)
Storage
Storage	60 GB	256 GB to 8 TB (better)
CPU
CPU	800 MHz PowerPC G4, 100 MHz system bus and 256 KB on-chip L2 cache. Single-core maker-clock record is reused only for the same published clock and G4 family; uncertain silicon identity is not inferred.	Six-core Core i5 at 3.1 GHz (Turbo Boost 4.5 GHz) or 3.3 GHz (4.8 GHz), or eight-core Core i7 at 3.8 GHz (5.0 GHz). Upper two bases configurable to 3.6 GHz ten-core Core i9 (5.0 GHz). Exact CPU identities follow Geekbench. Apple specifies a 5.0 GHz Core i7 limit in this iMac, while Intel lists 5.1 GHz for the chip itself.
GPU
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce2 MX with 32 MB dedicated DDR video memory and AGP 2x support.	Radeon Pro 5300 with 4 GB GDDR6 on the two Core i5 bases. Upper base has Radeon Pro 5500 XT with 8 GB GDDR6, optionally Radeon Pro 5700 with 8 GB or 5700 XT with 16 GB GDDR6.
Memory type
Memory type	256 MB SDRAM standard; factory options 512 MB or 1 GB. One 168-pin DIMM and one user-accessible SO-DIMM slot. Apple supports up to 1 GB.	2666 MHz DDR4; 8 GB standard as two 4 GB modules. Four user-accessible SO-DIMM slots; configurable to 16/32/64/128 GB on every base.
Storage type
Storage type	60 GB 7200 rpm Ultra ATA/66 hard drive and 32x Combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW. Combo reads DVDs at 8x, writes CD-R at 32x and CD-RW at 10x. No unsupported storage option is paired with this processor.	Lower base: fixed 256 GB SSD. Middle base: 512 GB/1/2 TB SSD. Upper base: 512 GB/1/2/4/8 TB SSD.
Display
Screen size
Screen size	15″	27″
Resolution
Resolution	1024 × 768	5120 × 2880 (better)
Panel
Panel	–	IPS LCD
Brightness
Brightness	200 nits	500 nits (better)
Display type
Display type	TFT active-matrix LCD with millions of colours and typical 300:1 contrast; panel technology and refresh rate unpublished in the exact maker sheet.	LED-backlit Retina 5K display; IPS panel confirmed by EveryMac. Apple does not publish native refresh rate in the specification sheet.
Display features
Display features	Typical viewing angles: 120° horizontal and 90° vertical. Articulated display arm adjusts height and angle.	Wide colour (P3), one billion colours and True Tone; standard glass or optional nano-texture glass
Connections
Ports
Ports	3 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack	2 × Thunderbolt 3, 4 × USB-A, SD card slot, Ethernet, headphone jack
Ethernet
Ethernet	0.1 Gb/s	1 Gb/s (better)
External displays
External displays	–	Up to 2
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	–	802.11ac
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	–	5.0
Camera
Camera	–	1080p FaceTime HD
Back ports
Back ports	Three USB 1.1 ports on the computer, plus two on the keyboard; two FireWire 400 ports with 8 W shared power, Mini-VGA, 10/100BASE-T Ethernet, 56K V.92 modem, headphone jack and Apple speaker minijack. The 15-inch model has no audio line-in. Optional AirPort 802.11b card; Bluetooth requires a separate USB adapter, unlike the 17-inch internal option.	Four USB-A ports; two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports with DisplayPort, Thunderbolt up to 40 Gb/s and USB 3.1 Gen 2 up to 10 Gb/s; UHS-II SDXC, Gigabit Ethernet and 3.5 mm headphone jack; Kensington lock slot. Optional 10Gb Ethernet supports 1/2.5/5/10Gb connections. Thunderbolt 2, HDMI, DVI and VGA require adapters.
External displays
External displays	Mini-VGA video mirroring through an optional adapter: 640 × 480 at 60 Hz, 800 × 600 at 75 Hz or 1024 × 768 at 75 Hz. S-video and composite output are absent on the 15-inch model.	One 6K or 5K external display, or two 4K displays; two 6K displays require Radeon Pro 5700 or 5700 XT. All listed external modes run at 60 Hz.
Speakers
Speakers	Built-in speaker and microphone; Apple Pro Speakers rated at 9 W each and internal 18 W amplifier.	Stereo speakers
Microphones
Microphones	–	Three-mic array with directional beamforming; supports Hey Siri
Keyboard and mouse
Keyboard and mouse	Apple Keyboard, Apple Mouse, Apple Pro Speakers and modem cable.	Rechargeable Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse 2; optional numeric keyboard and Magic Trackpad
Design and power
Type
Type	All-in-one	All-in-one
Weight
Weight	9.7 kg	8.92 kg (better)
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	–	650 × 203 × 516 mm
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Size and weight detail
Size and weight detail	Adjustable maker ranges: height 329–509 mm, width 384–415 mm and depth 270–415 mm; base diameter 270 mm. Reference weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process.	Dimensions include the stand; weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process. A built-in VESA mount version was also available.
Power supply
Power supply	90–264 V AC, 47–63 Hz, single phase; maximum continuous power 130 W.	100–240 V AC, 50–60 Hz, single phase
Materials
Materials	–	Recyclable, low-carbon aluminium enclosure; arsenic-free glass and mercury-free LED backlight
In the box
In the box	Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar and iLife, with AppleWorks and other bundled applications. Classic environment supports older applications; the exact EveryMac model source confirms it cannot boot Mac OS 9, unlike the original 2002 revision. Maker launch confirms immediate availability on 4 February 2003.	iMac, Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse 2, power lead, Lightning to USB cable and polishing cloth